The Arab House in Madrid, Spain on Wednesday has cancelled a lecture that was due to be held by Palestinian activists, following pressure from Israeli organizations, PNN reported.
The lecture was to cover the topic of non-violent popular resistance against the Israeli wall and illegal settlements in Palestine.
Talks were to be delivered by the Popular Struggle Coordination Committee (PSCC) activist, Munther Amira and Manal Tamimi, in addition to the co-founder of the Boycott, Divest, Sanction (BDS) movement, Omar Barghouthi.
@BDSMadrid Omar Barghouti acierta al advertir que si Israel es capaz de acallar al mov. BDS en España la libertad de expresión está en jaque pic.twitter.com/Gw74MvLled
— KillingInTheNameOf (@lau_revolucion) January 31, 2017
The cancellation came shortly after the Israeli government had called on the Spanish police to bar the activists, calling them “terrorists.”
Following such calls, sources from the Spain foreign ministry said the ban came since the “activities are incompatible with the policy of the Spanish government in the Middle East.”
Three days ago, the Israeli government filed complaints in Spain against the activists, who were participating in a conference on the mechanisms of facing extremism.
Omar Barghouti, fundador del boicot a Israel para que respete los Derechos Humanos en Palestina, charla ahora mismo en Madrid @BDSMadrid pic.twitter.com/cJECbZ8xVT
— Miguel Ángel Medina (@locodelpelorojo) January 31, 2017
Amira told PNN that this is proof of the ongoing Israeli crimes against the Palestinian people and their attacks, racism at all levels, adding that Israel and its extremist government are violating all human rights conventions and aims to divide the world’s public opinion.
Amira stressed that all the activities carried out by the PSCC are committed to all laws and international conventions in their resistance of Israeli repression and attacks on human rights defenders.
Amira pointed out that the allegations against him are “flimsy” and will not prevent activists from attending the conference in Barcelona and exposing occupation’s practices against Palestine.
(PNN, PC, Social Media)
